Sushant Singh Rajput and Kriti Sanon in Raabta
Highlights
- Raabta and Magadheera are based on the theme of reincarnation
- Magadheera makers alleged copyright infringement
- Team Raabta gave a list of more than 100 films on reincarnation
, starring Sushant Singh Rajput and Kriti Sanon, has been cleared for release as per schedule on Friday after the makers of
Magadheera withdrew their copyright infringement case. Allu Aravind, producer of the S S Rajamouli-directed
Magadheera, had gone to court seeking
an injunction against the release of Raabta alleging that the film's plot and storyline had been lifted from the 2009 film. After
Raabta's trailer released in April, Twitter was also quick to
notice the similarities between the two films. "We presented our case to the honourable court as to how the films are not similar. In the morning, the makers of 'Magadheera' withdrew their case,"
Raabta director Dinesh Vijan told news agency IANS.On Wednesday, a statement released by the makers of
Raabta said that their legal team "argued for over five hours in court" describing in detail several differences in the script and storylines of
Raabta and
Magadheera. "They pointed out that the concerns of the makers of
Magadheera that the iconic 100 warriors scene has been lifted in
Raabta is completely unfounded as there was no such scene either in their film or the trailer," read the statement.
Both
Raabta and
Magadheera, starring Ram Charan Teja, are based on the theme of reincarnation. After the trailer of
Raabta released, Twitter noted how similar it seemed to the Telugu blockbuster:
However, T-Series' lawyer Ankit Relan and owner Bhushan Kumar (who co-produces the film with Homi Adajania) said that on the basis of the trailer one cannot conclude that
Raabta is a copy of
Magadheera. Mr Relan said in a statement: "The entire suit, which has been filed at the eleventh hour despite the trailer coming out more than six weeks ago, is based on conjectures. We can't understand how a film of over 2.30 hours in duration can reasonably be compared with a trailer of around 2 minutes to jump to a conclusion of copyright infringement."
Last week, Dinesh Vijan told news agency PTI: "Reincarnation as a genre is very popular. There have been films like
Karan Arjun,
Madhumati,
Om Shanti Om and
Magadheera. This genre has been done couple of times and now I have come into this space (of reincarnation). I am a huge fan of S S Rajamouli and his films like
Baahubali and I would never copy him. There is a similarity in the genre. I am confident that not even one scene is copied from their film." In the court, the lawyers presented a list of more than 100 films on the theme of reincarnation.
Bhushan Kumar also told PTI that after he received a notice from a Hyderabad court he talked to Allu Aravind and asked him to watch
Raabta to see that there are no similarities in the two films. "According to the Supreme Court, there are 20 judgements on copyright infringement and so we told them to see our film and they have not got back to us and chosen to go to court," he told PTI.
Raabta also stars Jim Sarbh while Rajkummar Rao has a cameo. Deepika Padukone will be seen in a special song appearance.
Raabta will release on June 9 along with Shruti Haasan and Rajkummar Rao's
Behen Hogi Teri.
(With IANS and PTI inputs)